Same-sex marriage is gaining speed in New York — though Cuomo had reportedly encouraged LGBT groups to wait until he was certain they had enough votes to pass, New York Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell (D-Manhattan) (yup, that’s Rosies’ gay brother), introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage this week. O’Donnell:
“It is with great pride that I am introducing the Marriage Equality Act. Since the Assembly last passed the bill in 2009, there has been an overwhelming groundswell of support for marriage equality across our state.”
Obviously the National Organization for Marriage is in a hot panic about this threat to national security, our nation’s water supply and the war on drugs, and has therefore sunk $500,000 into a New York Ad Campaign (we don’t usually link to NOM because they are evil, but this seems like a big deal). Take a gander:
Furthermore, the National Organization for Marriage is openly offering to pay Republicans for their anti-equality votes! “Nation’s Leading Pro-Marriage Group says it will Spend $1 million to Primary any Republican who Votes to Redefine Marriage and Defend Democrats who Vote to Protect Marriage.” Is that allowed? I thought we were all supposed to pretend that lobbying was about sitting someone down and convincing them to see your side, not openly paying them to vote a certain way.
From NOM’s press release:
“It’s become quite clear in recent days in New York that Governor Cuomo and same-sex marriage advocates are targeting a select number of Democrat state Senators, as well as some Republicans in their desperate attempt to coerce legislators to support their agenda,” said Brian Brown, President of NOM. “We want to be sure those courageous Democrats and Republicans who cast their vote of conscience in favor of traditional marriage will have a strong supporter if the radical gay activists come after them in their next election.”
[NOM president Brian] Brown stated, “Tim Gill and other pro-gay marriage millionaires are funneling money into New York to sell a false bill of goods. They failed in the last election to flip the legislature, and now they’re trying to convince legislators that they somehow have something to fear if they do the right thing and vote to protect marriage. NOM has defeated every pro-gay marriage Republican we’ve ever targeted, and we’re quite confident we will do so in New York, should that become necessary.”
It’s a change from a group which traditionally spends the bulk of its lobbying money AGAINST candidates they dislike, rather than towards candidates they do like. In 2010, they spent $172,189 campaigning against California Democratic Candidate Barbara Boxer, who went ahead and won anyhow.
How do we feel about this new ad? Does it carry the same cinematic weight as their initial masterpiece, The Gathering Storm? (the parodies were funny though)
So… I don’t know what was up the the narrator’s voice, but… he sounds like he’s trying way too hard. Or chain smoking.
No, I don’t think it’s as effective as the Gathering Storm. Which is good for us! Even the people on YouTube seem to be having thoughtful discussions about it, which says something too. I think the tide is changing… more and more people seem to be on our side. Unfortunately it’s the people who are the most visible that take the most action against our LGBT rights.
“Nation’s Leading Pro-Marriage Group says it will Spend $1 million to Primary any Republican who Votes to Redefine Marriage and Defend Democrats who Vote to Protect Marriage.”
That is ILLEGAL. The rule is that you cannot just buy a vote–you do so explicitly and boom, invalid, voted off the island, I don’t remember the details exactly but it’s true, I’m a PoliSci major (who’s admittedly really short on sleep and caffeine so IDK the details). It’s supposed to be TACIT bribery, you don’t just SAY it. You tell a politician your wishes and mention offhandedly how much financial support your well-funded group has given to worthy leaders or whatever veneer of respectability you can scrape together. As far as protection against bribery goes it’s a paper riot shield, but seriously NOM just put it through a shredder and jacked off into the heap of legal confetti. Please pleas please let some dumbass conservative try to collect, JUST TRY.
Every time I see a NOM video, I can’t help but ask myself over and over: So, they don’t actually make their videos, right? Someone else is making them. As a joke. Somebody with a big fat gay agenda has infiltrated and is making videos that are so silly that no one will take them seriously. No comprendo.
Also, maybe I’m just Canadian but that vote-buying thing sounds, not only illegal, but not very “moral” either, which is what they are all about?
My thoughts exactly on the jokiness of the videos! This particular one feels incredibly spoofy with the overly dramatic music and the narrator with the not-quite-believable accent and voice. I couldn’t help myself thinking, “This is a real NOM piece? Are they for serious? Oh man, only the truly naive will get sucked into this and not end up giggling.” Sadly though I think there are a slew of people who get easily sucked into this style of message delivery and take it very seriously. And to that all I can do is facepalm.
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/237580/double-facepalm.jpg
Same here! This video could pass as a parody of a NOM video. My favourite part is the narrator’s voice when he says “Massachusettes schools teach second graders that boys can marry other boys” because he sounds totally sarcastic.
I hope the pro equality messages in response to NOM’s lies include the fact that the vast majority of NOM’s funding is from fewer than 10 crazy, and crazy rich donors. Of course they always want to buy votes with their millions, but these people think way too much about other people’s personal lives.
YES. Everyone needs to watch 8: The Mormon Proposition. That is all.
… They’re presenting a teacher inviting her students to a wedding as immoral? WUT. They didn’t even say WHY it was bad! Je ne comprende pas!
My main feeling about this video is that Riese would win in a Stock Photo Showdown.
RT
I don’t think they could have more explicitly aimed that a Black Churchgoers.
That’s what I was thinking too!!! They’ve really hit a new low with this one….4 decades ago, NOM would have been putting out the exact same fucked up propaganda videos against interracial marriage. I hope no one falls for this scum
I was preparing myself to be offended and hurt and all that jazz, but seriously? Like, where’s the REAL ad?
With the whole ‘We’ll pay you!’ bullshit, one of two things will happen-
1) Some moron takes the money and subsequently gets bitch slapped out of politics, possibly resulting in a media shit storm against NOM
2) Every Republican turns them down because everyone is at least smart enough not to latch onto that grenade. The media runs a piece, thus resulting in a shit storm against NOM.
I will be content either way.
Favorite quote – “It’s not just kids that face consequences. The rights of people who believe that “marriage” means a man and a woman will no longer matter.”
What? Does that even make sense?!?! If anything, I think this ad will actually be counterproductive, it’s that ridiculous.
I agree, that was a serious WTF moment. It’s not like we are replacing heteromarriage with homomarriage…just trying to include it alongside. These people don’t get that?
It wasn’t called the Defense of Marriage Act for nothing. NO, they DON’T get that.
I think they mean that if gays are allowed to get married the rights of people who believe marriage means a man and a woman will no longer FEEL SPECIAL. And feeling special means you matter. It makes a LOT of sense if you really think about it (NOT).
No, didn’t you hear? They’ll have to ACCEPT gay marriage! They’ll lose their fundamental right to seat us at the singles table at weddings and deny us newlywed discounts at Boyscout pancake breakfasts. They won’t even be able to disguise their homophobia as virtue by giving us snide lectures on adultery at church square-dancing events!
This is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever seen. Nothing about this video makes sense, and nothing about the series of images makes sense to me either. I’m fucking sick of this.
me no gusta
I find it funny that all of the “consequences” these homophobic ads have are actually in favour of gay marriage.
1) Our children will learn about gay people!
2) Our children will learn that there are gay people EVERYWHERE!
3) Children will be taught that being gay is normal and is something they cannot help; it is caused by nature, not nurture
4) Children will understand that there are different people in the world, and we should tolerate and respect their differences.
5) These children will thus grow up with a different perspective on the world.
Ummm…yeah? What’s the problem? Sounds good to me! Oh wait, this is a BAD thing!? #wtfseriously
Right, to clarify – because inexplicably, allowing same-sex couples to legally marry will be directly correlated to how children will be exposed to them (which the Right assumes anyhows). My bullets above seem to be combining the anti-bullying campaigns and gay marriage campaigns.
EXCELLENT POINTS!
“we’ll all have to accept same-sex marriage whether we like it or not”: well yeah, that’s how the world works.
I accept my co-worker’s right to talk incessantly about her wedding plans and her fiancee, and I accept my neighbor’s right to play annoying music late into the night, and I accept fraternity brother’s rights to get drunk and act like douches in my favorite bar.
Also huge LOLs at the 80’s style wedding dresses in those photos!
I almost feel like infiltrating anti gay marriage homophobic organizations so I can steal money from them and destroy them from the inside. I’ll show them what a radical gay activist can do! If only…
Seriously!! I am confused all the time being compared to “militant” “aggressive” “activists with an extreme agenda to destroy civilization”
Here’s a good, simple comparison for all the idiots who run NOM:
Osama bin Laden was a militant aggressive activist with an extreme agenda to destroy civilization.
Those dudes down the street who make edible cake decor and the cute barista chick with the HRC sticker on her backpack are NOT.
So it’s wrong to teach children to accept people for who they are???
But seriously, where’s the real ad?
I am going to go study confusing Maths equations because they make more sense than that ad.
I’m working on algebra. Not only does it make more sense than that ad, it’s about as useful.
The ad is stupid.
BUT… I still get that enraged, sick feeling in my stomach when they say things like, “we’ll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like it or not.”
Well, duh. I’m sure that white supremacists didn’t like it when blacks started having rights. Yup. I just compared NOM to the KKK. F*ckers.
I don’t get the point of that ad. they’re basically appealing to people who wouldn’t like gay marriage anyway, so they’re not gaining any supporters.
The ad is so stupid.
I’d like to have a more intelligent response to this… but it’s not worth it.
Whenever I see NOM anywhere I think of this:
And then I look into it further and am disappointed.
I too, haz the NOM moment each and every time.
“Our right to infringe on other people’s rights will disappear”
OH NOES
help! soon we will have to give everyone the rights we have been hoarding for ourselves in our basement! oh noooo
we need to get them an intervention on Hoarders, though who knows what rights we might find hiding there (like maybe universal healthcare and reproductive rights)
That ad was really kinda pathetic and anticlimactic. I clicked play, watched, and was just like “er…where’s the real ad?”
seriously – it sorta looks like the onion made it
I feel like the onion could make some money with this. Just have them trick NOM into thinking they really believe in their cause, and make some ridiculously terrible ads, and NOM will end up looking stupid.
“We’ll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like or not.”
Well, yes, that kind of is the point. You getting over the idea that you can control someone else’s life just because you have “opposing views” even though I don’t think “opposing views” adequately describes ignorant homophobia.
“We’ll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like it or not.”
Yeah. Exactly. There are things in life I don’t like but I have to accept them anyway. Because this is reality we live in, not “Everything Revolves Around You-Land”. No one gives a shit what you like and don’t like. Gay people are entitled to marriage. Deal.
You know what, I don’t like sardines. But sardines exist. I don’t make whiny, heavily narrated commercials complaining that if we don’t ban sardines we’ll have to accept that they’re real and some people eat them. My personal dislike for something isn’t the centre of the political universe. If other people want to eat sardines, GO FOR IT.
Sardines was probably a stinky metaphor. Apologies.
Still, for the sake of metaphor, I LOVE sardines.
You know, I thought the guy who narrated “The Dukes of Hazzard” was dead by now…
Anyway, why would they have a southern sounding(well, it also sounded forced/fake) guy for a commercial in not-south New York? It’s almost like they were trying to tie their anti-gay marriage commercial with the old anti-interracial marriage views…
Really? This isn’t a parody?
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